


How Victor Nikiforov and Katsuki Yuuri First Met

by rosealie



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Clingy Victor, Fluff, Friendship, Laser Tag, M/M, Romance, bowling, chris because why not, scheming phichit, shy yuuri, skaters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-30 02:44:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10867401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosealie/pseuds/rosealie
Summary: Yuuri is upset about placing fourth in his first Grand Prix Series assignment, so Phichit takes him out to have some fun.





	How Victor Nikiforov and Katsuki Yuuri First Met

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovely people~! I'm back again! I've been having a hard time lately and writing is my outlet, so I am more than happy to share this with you instead of keeping it on my drive to collect dust. Please enjoy!

“Please, Yuuri?! It’ll be fun, I promise!” Phichit whined, tugging on Yuuri’s hand. The young Thai skater had a grip on the older Japanese skater’s hand that was downright painful.

“Fun?” Yuuri asked. “Phichit, I have a test I need to study for!” He protested, but Phichit wouldn’t hear any of it. “Please! Besides, I doubt the place is going to be open this late at night!” Yuuri was trying his best to avoid embarrassing himself even more. Phichit had told him that he had nothing to be embarrassed about, but Yuuri and his anxiety thought differently.

It had been his first Grand Prix Series event and he placed fourth. Not terrible, but it was the first time he shared the ice with his idol, Victor Nikiforov, and he had done poorly. It didn’t help matters that he had a test in a few days for the college he was attending and he was stressed beyond belief about it. But Phichit had demanded the pair go out and try to have fun, celebrating the fact that Yuuri had made it into the Grand Prix Series at least.

Yuuri gave up protesting after a few minutes and allowed himself to be dragged into a cab and driven towards the infamous building Phichit demanded they journey to. Yuuri and Phichit entered the building, games and lights flashing. The cold Detroit air faded as they stepped into the heated room. Yuuri shrugged his jacket and scarf off, the heat of the building getting to him. The Thai skater does the same and they soon find what Phichit dragged them here for.

“Perfect! Laser tag and bowling!” Phichit said, finding a table to set their stuff down. “I’ll go pay and get your bowling shoes. Size ten, right?”

“Why do you even ask, Phichit?” Yuuri whined, looking up at him with a shocked expression. “We’ve only been skating together for the past four years!”

“American shoe sizes are wonky, Yuuri, you know that!”

“Just go get the shoes, I guess,” Yuuri mumbled as the excitable young skater bounced away. Yuuri checked his phone for the millionth time that evening, watching as more news articles about his first Grand Prix Assignment was such a failure. Yuuri was still engrossed in the articles when Phichit returned with bowling shoes and their balls, somehow juggling them without dropping anything.

“Yuuri! What have Ciao Ciao and I told you about reading news articles?” Yuuri sighed and locked his phone, automatically repeating the same thing Celestino and Phichit had been telling him for years now as he laced his shoes up.

“‘You need to stop worrying about the media and focus on your skating, Yuuri.’ Which is totally helpful to a person who has anxiety, you know,” Yuuri mumbled at the end, putting his name and Phichit’s into their bowling lane and picking up his bowling ball and beginning to bowl.

Phichit was always better than Yuuri was at bowling, and by the end of their first game, Phichit had been winning by almost twenty points on poor Yuuri. But they were having fun, snapping pictures and messing with Instagram filters and ordering food that was  _ definitely _ not on their diet but enjoying their time regardless. Phichit had paid for two hours of bowling, and their singular game had only taken half an hour.

“It’s just one game, Vitya, calm down!” A voice from the adjacent lane drew Yuuri and Phichit’s attention toward the newcomers. Yuuri was shocked as to who the voices belonged to. Christophe Giacometti and Victor were there, arguing about something. “Vitya, what’s the big deal? You love bowling!” A muffled but obviously Russian voice replied and Yuuri froze, trying not to panic.

_ Victor and Chris were here. Oh, no. _ Yuuri was not happy. In fact, he rolled gutter balls the next four times he tried to bowl and Phichit knew that was out of character, even for the notoriously bad bowler. “Yuuri, what’s wrong?” Finally, Yuuri sighed, pointing at the lane to the left of them. Phichit followed Yuuri’s finger and gasped, slapping Yuuri on his arm and squealing like a little girl.

“Yuuri! It’s Christophe Giacometti and Victor Nikiforov! Oh my god!” Yuuri shushed Phichit, but it didn’t work because Chris turned his head and broke into a grin, waving at the pair.

“Yuuri! It’s so nice to see you! What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Christophe Giacometti!” Phichit said, rushing up to shake hands with the Swiss skater. “It’s so nice to meet you! Yuuri never talks about any of the skaters he skates against very often!”

Chris laughed and Yuuri wanted nothing more than to sink into the floor and disappear. Victor had finished his round and had approached the trio, curious as to what was going on.  _ No no no! This is  _ not _ how Victor and I are supposed to meet for the first time! _ “Yuuri, who’s your friend here?” Chris asked, smiling his award-winning sexual smile. Yuuri could see Phichit swoon.

“This is my friend Phichit Chulanont. This year is his senior debut but he didn’t make it through Nationals to qualify.”

“I’m going to do it next year, Yuuri, just you watch me!” Phichit told him with an excitable grin. Victor looked at them with curious eyes, fixing on Yuuri after a while. “Anyways, I’m Phichit. Yuuri and I train under Celestino and this was Yuuri’s first Grand Prix series event! He placed fourth, but that’s not surprising considering he was up against you and Victor Nikiforov!”

“Hear that, Victor?” Chris said, turning his head, a mischievous smile on his face. “That cute Japanese boy you wouldn’t shut up about is just beginning! And he’s cute, too!”

“Shut up, Chris!” Victor said, and Yuuri was stunned for a number of reasons. First was the fact that Victor Nikiforov, the notorious playboy, looked  _ embarrassed. _ Second was that Chris, who he barely spoke to at competitions like Worlds. Third was that  _ Victor Nikiforov _ had talked about him  _ Katsuki Yuuri _ to Christophe Giacometti. Yuuri wanted to faint. Or disappear. Melting into the floor never to return sounded good.

“Are you guys done with your game?” Phichit asked, noticing the scores displayed on the screen. “Want to join ours?”

“No, we couldn’t impose-” Victor began to speak, but Chris silenced him by speaking over him.

“We would love to! Be warned, I am an astonishing bowler.”

“Bring it, Giacometti!” Phichit said, but Yuuri tugged on Phichit’s arm to speak with him alone while Victor did the same for Chris. “What’s wrong, Yuuri?” Phichit asked, innocence and confusion lacing his voice. “I thought you’d be thrilled to play with Victor and Chris!”

“Phichit! You  _ know  _ how I feel about Victor! I failed because he was watching me! I can’t be around him! I’m awkward already!”

“Oh, Yuuri, my dear friend. Live a little!”

“But Phichit-!” Yuuri began to protest until a heavy weight settled on the seat next to him. “Ah!” He gasped and turned his head to see  _ Victor  Nikiforov _ sitting next to him, looking bored. Yuuri felt his tongue tie itself into knots.

“Ah, Yuuri!” Chris called, signaling to the bowling lane. “It’s your turn!” Yuuri flushed and stood up, bowling another gutter ball and then only hitting two pins on his second try. He sank down next to Phichit, trying to fix his glasses and flushed in shame.

“Oh, Yuuri!” Chris called as he bowled a strike. “Don’t feel so bad! Victor lost last game after only bowling twelve.”

Yuuri turned to Victor with a confused expression and the Russian shrugged and laughed. “I’m terrible at anything other than skating, really.” The admission shocked Yuuri to the core. The perfect Victor Nikiforov wasn’t perfect? Yuuri was going to pass out. “In fact, you’ll probably do better than me!”

“Oh, Victor, don’t sell yourself so short! You’re brilliant at laser tag!”

“You guys want to play laser tag after this?” Phichit asked, and Yuuri tried not to groan. He wanted to go back home and forget all about today. “It’ll be fun, I promise! Me and Yuuri against the pair of you!”

“No, Phichit, I think we need to go home after this-”

“Sounds amazing!” Victor cut in, a sly grin on his face. Yuuri didn’t like it, not one bit. But Chris and Phichit quickly made him forget about the strange happiness Victor was displaying upon hearing that they would be playing against each other. Yuuri didn’t like it, but he tried to focus on beating Victor in something for once: bowling. Sure enough, Victor scored very low, rolling gutter balls more often than not.

Yuuri managed to best Chris by a point but fell below Phichit by four, which wasn’t uncommon between the two roommates. “You guys might have won this round,” Chris said, his voice teasing. “But let’s go one more before we go laser tagging!” Yuuri agreed, only because Victor hung off of him to beg him to play again.

Victor and Yuuri began to get closer as the game wore on. Phichit teased Yuuri endlessly and Chris figured it out and began to tease as well. Victor tried to get the others to stop, but they didn’t. Yuuri eventually tuned them out, trying his best to pretend he wasn’t there. He was embarrassed by Victor’s proximity. It didn’t help that Victor seemed to want nothing more than to hang off of him. Chris laughed at Yuuri’s embarrassment. “He’s like that with everyone he fancies, Yuuri.”

“Shut up, Chris!” Victor whined, landing in Yuuri’s lap as he tried to hit Chris. Yuuri stiffened and tried his best not to move with Victor Nikiforov in his lap. Victor sat up and locked eyes with the red Yuuri. “Oh, sorry!” Victor said, sitting up and away from him. Phichit wriggled his eyebrows at Yuuri, and the Japanese skater flushed. Phichit and Chris excused themselves to go put the shoes up and Victor turns to grin at Yuuri.

“Yuuri!” Victor said, somehow saying it correctly, drawing Yuuri’s attention. “Tell me about yourself!”

“Oh er…I started skating when I was young. This is my first time qualifying for the Grand Prix Series, actually.”

“Really? Wow!” Victor said, leaning closer to Yuuri. The poor Japanese skater was distinctly uncomfortable but didn’t want to offend Victor, who seemed like a very touchy-feely guy. “You need to tell me more about yourself, Yuuri!”

“He’s had a crush on you since he was ten,” Phichit informs Victor and Yuuri shot up to cover Phichit’s mouth, but the Thai skater was quick and evaded him.

“Phichit, shut up!”

“Yuuri, that’s so cute!” Chris teased and Yuuri wanted nothing more than to run away. He tried to stand up to leave, but Victor tugged on his arm.

“Yuuri, I think it’s sweet. Please do not leave.” Victor pleaded, and Yuuri couldn’t say no to Victor Nikiforov and his puppy dog eyes.

“O-Okay,” Yuuri mumbled under his breath and the group stood up to go pay for a few games of laser tag. “Phichit and I call being on the blue team!” Yuuri said and high-fived Phichit as he strapped himself into the vest.

“That’s fine,” Chris said, and Victor shot him a conspiratorial smirk. “We’ll be red.”

Some official looking man came to tell them the rules before setting the two older skaters free inside the maze. “There are two floors. If they’re smart, they have the top floor overlooking the door covered. We have to be fast and find some good spots. Ready, Yuuri?”

Yuuri nodded, having set aside his glasses and slicked back his hair like he did when he skated. It was so he could concentrate better. Or so Phichit had made him. Yuuri didn’t believe it, but he went along with it. The official let them into the arena and they ran inside, covering their chest plate and trying to find the hiding men. Phichit and Yuuri were lucky their hair didn’t stand out against the black background like Chris and Victor’s did.

Yuuri backed into someone and whirled around, only to have his chest plate buzz and his gun shut off for a few seconds. “Hey, Yuuri!” Chris said, then ran away. Yuuri sighed and back himself into a corner in a huff. It was an opportune spot, he soon found out, as Victor came rushing down the stairs, quickly followed by Phichit. Yuuri aimed and hit Victor in the chest and Victor looked around, so Yuuri hid back in his corner. Phichit was soon hit by Chris, but Yuuri hit Chris in retaliation.

Yuuri liked his corner. He was relatively safe and he could see anyone appearing and shoot them. But then, while he shot Chris and tried to go back into his hiding spot, someone approached him and backed him into the corner.

“Victor, what are you-!” Yuuri is cut off when the other man’s lips descend on his. Yuuri gasped and wrapped his arms around Victor’s body and pulled him close, having wanted to do that for longer than he wanted to admit. Yuuri was stunned when the lips pulled away from his and Victor gave him a coy smirk before shooting him in the chest plate and sauntering off while Yuuri was too shocked to do anything else.

When Phichit found him, Yuuri was still in shock, pressing his fingers against his lips. “Come on, Yuuri. We need a point more to win!”

“Oh, alright,” Yuuri mumbled and snuck up the stairs while Phichit disappeared. He found Victor trying to conceal his tall body behind some boxes. Yuuri shot him and then when he stood up and his chest plate returned to normal, he shot him again for good measure. The lights came on and they left the room.

Victor didn’t acknowledge what happened this time. “Perhaps a change of teams is in order,” Chris suggested, and Phichit seconded the idea. “Then Phichit and Victor against me and Yuuri it shall be.” Yuuri wanted to protest, but it didn’t happen before they were thrust into the maze once more.

“So, you and Victor, eh?” Chris teased, and Yuuri buried his head in his hands, embarrassment eating him up alive. “I think it’s cute, Yuuri.”

“Shut up, Chris!” Yuuri whined, and Chris laughed, darting away as Yuuri got shot by Phichit and they rush away. Yuuri stood there in shock. He didn’t know how or why this was happening to him, but he was ready for it to end.

“Yuuri,” a voice purred in his ear and Yuuri jumped, whirling around and shooting the source of the voice without a second thought. “You’re so mean,  _ zolotse _ !” Victor said, holding his chest like he’d been wounded. “That’s okay. I still like you,” Victor told him, pulling him close and kissing him once more.

Yuuri didn’t know what he’d done to deserve this. A cruel joke played upon him by his brain. After all, there was no way he would actually have Victor Nikiforov’s attention like this. No way whatsoever. This is a dream and he would wake up at any moment.

“Oh, lookie what we have here!” Chris’ voice filtered into his muddled brain. Phichit stood with a sly smirk on his face. “Phichit, what do you think?” Yuuri stuffed his head under Victor’s chin, refusing to look at anyone.

“Victor and Yuuri sitting in a tree!” Phichit started and Chris joined in. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Yuuri turned around and glared at them, shooting both of them, but Chris’ vest didn’t light up.

“Yuuri, we’re on the same team!” Chris protested, and Yuuri glared at them while they were busy cracking up laughing. Victor pulled Yuuri away and Yuuri allowed it to happen.

After their failed game of laser tag, Chris and Victor convinced the younger skaters to go to a bar. They drank and partied and danced and laughed and Yuuri stopped remembering after the first few drinks.

When he woke up, his head was pounding and he was in his room, Phichit passed out next to him. Yuuri could barely remember what happened last night but his pounding head told him that whatever they’d done, it involved heavy drinking. He shoved at his friend’s shoulder and the soft snoring stopped and Phichit groaned, slapping back at Yuuri. “Wha’ time…it?” Phichit mumbled into the pillow, a yawn cutting him off and making it almost impossible for Yuuri to understand.

“Lemme get my phone,” Yuuri grumbled under his breath and fumbled for his phone. He pulled it out and shrieked in panic, startling the still half-asleep Phichit so bad he fell onto the floor.

“What? Yuuri! What is it?” Phichit shouted back, noticing Yuuri’s panicked expression as he sat up, rubbing his head. “Ouch, my brain feels like it’s going to explode.” Yuuri gestured to his phone then looked up at Phichit with wide eyes, then back at his phone. “Let me see, Yuuri. It can’t be that bad!” Phichit said, pulling the phone from Yuuri’s prone fingers.

“Holy shit!” Phichit shouted, causing Yuuri and him to wince and hold their temples. “Sorry,” Phichit whispered. “This is  _ Victor Nikiforov’s _ personal cell phone number, Yuuri! And his Instagram!”

“You think I couldn’t see that, Phichit! Why is Victor Nikiforov texting  _ me _ ?!” Yuuri winced and stood up to get some water, his head pounding in an unpleasant way. His stomach disliked the movement, but he squashed the queasiness.

“Hm…” Phichit responded, causing Yuuri to throw his hands up in exasperation.

“‘Hm’. That’s all you have to say?! ‘Hm’?”

“Yuuri, calm down!”

“Calm down! I don’t remember anything from last night, besides the fact that I placed fourth in Skate America and we went bowling to celebrate, against my wishes! And now I have Victor Nikiforov texting me and his Instagram to boot! How can I ‘calm down’?!”

“You can at least be quiet so I can figure out what happened last night with a quiet room!” Phichit said, and Yuuri sighed, collapsing back onto his bed. He was just thankful that Phichit was here to deal with this. Yuuri didn’t know what he would do if he was alone with this information.

“So it looks like we went bowling and then Victor and Chris joined us,” Phichit began, his voice hesitant. Yuuri didn’t like that. Phichit was going to hold back on him.

“Tell me everything, Phichit. And I mean  _ everything. _ ”

“Well, I remember most of last night. At least until we started drinking. You’re not going to like it, Yuuri.”

“Tell me, Phichit,” Yuuri said, his voice cold and also the slightest bit terrified.

“You and Victor kissed while playing laser tag and then we went to the bar. Victor was all over you. And you let him hang all over you.”

“W-what?!”

“Oh yes. And now that I’m looking at you, it seems like you have some hickeys!”

“Huh!?” Yuuri shrieked, tumbling over himself to look in the mirror. True to Phichit’s word, he has hickeys on his neck. “Oh no, this is bad. This is so so so bad!”

“Really? I think it’s cute!” Phichit cooed and Yuuri turned to look at him with panicked eyes. “Alright, alright. I don’t remember much after we began drinking. It got wild, I guess.”

“Yeah, yeah. I just hope-” He got cut off as his phone began to ring. He picked it up. “Hello?”

“Yuuri! How are you? You told me to call you this morning and I figured you’d be up by now and-”

“Victor!?”

“Yes?”

“Wait, you’re Victor Nikiforov?”

“Yuuri, why are you acting so weird?”

“Because I don’t remember last night at all and now I’m being told by Phichit and you that we were like… _ together  _ or something.”

“Well, let’s meet up for breakfast and I can explain it to you then!” Victor told him to meet him at a coffee shop near campus before hanging up. Before Yuuri had the chance to protest.

“Come on, Yuuri! Let’s cover up your hickeys and get you dressed for coffee with Victor Nikiforov!” Yuuri was shell-shocked, so he allowed himself to be dressed and made up so his hickeys were covered and pushed out the door with his phone and an excited Phichit telling him to come back with juicy details before he came back to himself. The door slammed and he sighed, resigning himself to breakfast with Victor Nikiforov.

He arrived at the coffee shop and found many people gathered around the door, peeking inside and whispering to themselves. Yuuri realized it was due to Victor. He pushed past them and Victor stood when he entered, motioning him over with excited gestures and even more excited eyes. “Yuuri!” Victor called, and Yuuri was surprised that he pronounced his name correctly. It took many people months of him subtly correcting them for them to correctly pronounce his name, but Victor was getting it right off the bat.

“Come, sit!”

“Ah, thank you.”

“You look even cuter this morning!” Victor complimented him, causing Yuuri to blush and cover his mouth and nose with his scarf. “What do you want?”

“I’ll just have a green tea, please.”

“Sure, Yuuri!” Victor said, bouncing to the counter to order. Yuuri stared at him, shocked that this was happening to him-- _ him _ of all people!--and sat there for a while, not doing anything, until Victor came back with his drink, a pastry, and a drink for himself. “Here you go! A large green tea.”

“Thank you,” Yuuri mumbled, sipping the hot beverage in an attempt to avoid eye contact with the older skater.

“So, Yuuri, tell me, you don’t remember much of anything from last night?”

“No, not really. When I start drinking, I tend to lose all memory.”

“Wow! You’d never last in Russia!”

“I have great alcohol tolerance, though. I just have issues remembering what happens. Which is always good for me, because I do pretty embarrassing things when I get drunk.”

“So you don’t remember last night at all?”

“I remember bits and pieces. We bowled. You were terrible at it. We played laser tag. You kissed me a lot. Everything gets fuzzy around the time we went to the bar.”

“I have pictures if you want to see them!” Victor said, pushing his phone toward Yuuri, who shook his head to decline.

“I’m sure they’re very…interesting, Victor, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I know what I do when I’m drunk. But why are you interested in me, of all people?”

“Isn’t it obvious, Yuuri?”

“No, that’s why I’m asking you, Victor.”

“The way you skate…it’s as if you create music with your body, and I cannot help but want to listen to it. You’re incredible, whether you want to believe it or not, Yuuri. I want to get to know you, and if you don’t want to get to know me, I’m fine with that. But please, just tell me so I can know and move on. Because after last night, even before we went out drinking, I don’t think I can.”

Yuuri sucked in a breath, shocked at Victor’s words. Victor thought his skating created music? Had he seen himself skate? Yuuri focused on Victor’s words, mulling them over and over again in his head. “You…like me…?” Yuuri whispered, shock enveloping his words.

“I like you, Yuuri. So, can we try this?”

“I-I’d like that, Victor. I’d like that a lot.”

“Good,” Victor said, a smile curving on his face. “Great! My flight doesn’t leave until tomorrow. Until then, would you mind showing me around?”

When Yuuri finally returned to his apartment that he shared with Phichit, he was attacked upon entry. “Oh dear God, Phichit! Calm down, please!” He begged, shrugging his coat off and hanging it up. He toed out of his shoes and walked to their couch. “Alright, what do you want to know?” He asked with a sigh, preparing himself for the worst.

“Tell me everything!” Yuuri told Phichit that he showed Victor around and they went to the rink and skated for a bit, just messing around. They held hands, much to Yuuri’s embarrassment, and talked about themselves a lot. Yuuri discovered that Victor was an airhead and very forgetful, very much unlike the playboy the media portrayed him as.

“We agreed to FaceTime each other when we can and try to work things out.”

“So?” Phichit asked giddily. Yuuri sighed, pressing his face into a pillow to mumble instead of telling Phichit outright.

“So Victor Nikiforov and I are dating,” he whispered, causing Phichit to let out a whoop of excitement.

“I knew it! Chris owes me ten dollars!”

“How are you and Chris friends?” Yuuri asked, ignoring the fact that the two had bet on his relationship (or lack thereof) with Victor.

“Oh, Yuuri. You really shouldn’t drink so much!”

“You let me drink that much!” Yuuri protested, but Phichit just waved his hand to dismiss the words.

“Well, while you were partying it up with Victor last night, Chris and I watched and stayed kinda sober so we could get you two drunkards home. He made a bet with me that you guys wouldn’t get together by the time Victor left. I said you would. Now he owes me ten dollars!”

“I don’t understand you most of the time, Phichit,” Yuuri said with a laugh.

“Well, I understand you perfectly, Yuuri.”

“Now that’s just not fair!” Yuuri whined, but Phichit just shrugged.

“Who would have thought that Katsuki Yuuri would have met Victor Nikiforov while bowling. And then they played laser tag and kissed for the first time!”

“Phichit…”

“Oh, the stories I can tell your children!”

“Phichit.”

“I can’t wait to tell the world about how you met!”

“Phichit!”


End file.
